In other “things that usually annoy me but actually seemed quite positive this year,” 2014 being the year of the voice-over felt like a win. Over-reliance on VO can be a crutch, as it was on the fall’s somewhat charming A to Z and the awful Manhattan Love Story. But its use in Outlander, Selfie, Black-ish, and Jane the Virgin was an essential ingredient in the diversity we’re all so excited about.

In Outlander, we’re getting a rollicking, sexy, time-traveling adventure from a woman’s point of view. I’m not sure we need any extra hand-holding to cope with that—as you wrote, Mo, the treatment of sexuality in “The Wedding,” and of a sexual assault in “Both Sides Now,” were very specifically and unmistakably presented from the female lead’s perspective. But as we’ve seen before in Veronica Mars and Sex and the City, even when a show is clearly aimed at women, it helps to have an audible signal that this is not just a standard television setup with a woman subbed into the exact same leading role that would usually be taken by a dude. In Outlander, what Claire desires in and from a man is very specific and not at all what Ray Donovan or Tony Soprano would look for in a mate. Among other things, Jamie’s appeal to Claire lies in his willingness to sacrifice his own safety for her, his conversational skills, and his lack of judgment about her sexual experience—just as much as the way he fills out a kilt. Claire doesn’t really have to tell us that explicitly, but it doesn’t hurt.

During our trip to the show's set, we tested Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan and Tobias Menzies on all things Scottish, from the laws of whiskey to famous Scottish rock stars and everything in between. How well did they do? Watch:

apparently video embedding doesn't work so click on the pic to get the vid (it will open a new window)